Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Xenogenesis


At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements ;)

What if you could create how your children look? Would you make them look like you? Would you make them look completely different? 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

This letter available for the giveaway

44 comments:

  1. No I like mine the way she looks now. I am very blessed.

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  2. Oh no, definitely wouldn't want them to look like me, not with my big nose and hips. I think I would want to create their heart, their inner being, more than their physical being.

    Two more letters!

    betty

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    1. I wonder if you could change a child's appearance if you could also change their personality. Interesting question.

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  3. I'm happy with the way mine turned out. I wouldn't want to be responsible for how they look!

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  4. Not me. As long as they get their good looks from their mom they'll be okay.

    Stephen Tremp
    A-Z Co-host
    X is for Xenoglossy

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  5. Most people's kids look a lot like them, I think!

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    1. Yes, but if you could "design" your child, would you?

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  6. I'm not sure I'd go in for designing a whole child, but I'd like to maybe eliminate some of my least favourite features of myself and my husband. I do like the idea of changing some of the inner qualities, like perhaps making sure they don't inherit my temper or tendencies towards procrastination. ;-)

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  7. I don't think I'd want to do the designing! I like surprises. My daughter is a bit of a mini-me but I didn't do it on purpose. I WOULD have liked the option to skip a couple traits... Thick thighs and miss bossypants attitude... could have left those off... One because I hate having them myself and the other because having more than one in a house is challenging.

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  8. Even if I could, I wouldn't want to manipulate it, though I would hope my children would be taller and more beautiful than I am.

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  9. I'd want the poor things to look better than I do. The girl could look like my wife though.

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  10. First of all, great job with the X word (it really worked out for your question-Tuesday). Second, I'm not sure I'd do anything. Everyone always finds things to dislike about themselves anyway, so I don't think it would help.

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  11. Oh no...I love the way my fur babies look:) I have no human kids

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  12. Same for me. I love the way my fur babies look too and I have no human kids either.

    Sunni
    http://sunni-survivinglife.blogspot.com/

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    1. Okay, but if you could design the perfect furbaby...?

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  13. Interesting question. I was excited to meet my child knowing he'd be a combination of myself and my husband, but never thought about what I would live him to look like. Sure is interesting seeing the combo characteristics.

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    1. I don't think we consider it much, but if it were possible, I wonder how many people would change their children's appearance.

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  14. What I would 'like' is what I meant to say. :)

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  15. I don't think I would. Even without trying, everyone says we cloned our kids. One boy and one girl perfect images of their parents.

    Scribbles From Jenn - Visiting from the A to Z Challenge

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  16. I don't think I would want to interfere with this!

    Yvonne

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  17. I decided around age 5 that I was never going to have children. By the time I changed my mind, I was too old. (But even at that point, I didn't want a child - just thought it would be great to have a grown child.)

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  18. I think my girl got off lightly - people say she looks like me, but she doesn't have my big nose. I think if we did this it would create some scary dystopian future. The "bespoke" children vs the average Joes, and the bespoke ones would likely be designed to be excessively beautiful and would probably be a**holes. Think there's a book in this!

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  19. Before I actually had them, I bet I would have been tempted to if the ability existed. Now that they're here, HELL NO ;)

    You can find me here:
    ClarabelleRant

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    1. It's definitely different once you've met them.

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  20. My kids are a 50/50 version of myself and their father. I don't care about appearance. The heart is the heart of things :)

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    1. Next time I might have to ask that question. I was kind of hindered by finding an X term...

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  21. Ha, this is a great what if. Seriously sounds like a great premise for a sci-fi novel, an experiment gone wrong! All three of my kids are a good mix of me and the hubs:)

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  22. I wouldn't change what my kids look like, but if I could, I would mess with their genes too eliminate allergies and the tendency to develop diseases.

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  23. That's a good question...maybe a better one for someone who doesn't already have kids...like me. When I think of my future kids, if there are kids in my future, I do sometimes imagine what they'd look like. So maybe I would.

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    1. Yeah, this is kind of a future question. Once you've met your kids, most people tend to love them as they are.

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  24. My kids always dressed alike for the most part. The girls were only 16 months apart so to keep from struggling with trying to get them to match I just bought 2 of everything for them. That way they would match no matter what. But I certainly wouldn't have them dress like me. I am just glad to say that my kids took after me in the looks department.

    @TrinaO'Neil from
    Walking My Own Path - from A to Z

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  25. We've decided we're definitely NOT having children, so it's kind of a non-issue for me. I think if we were having kids, and there was something I could control I would me much more concerned with personality and predisposition to certain diseases and health conditions.

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  26. That seems to be the consensus. Looks aren't as important as health.

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  27. My daughter looks like my husband and his family...and even though I'd love for her to look more like me, I wouldn't change a thing...she's perfect! My son looks like me and he's perfect as well!
    Katie @TheCyborgMom

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  28. loving thiz!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I appreciate your comments.

I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.

*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.